CRUNCHTIME AT NEW HIGH SCHOOL

Much still to be done at novel campus in downtown library

Weeks before San Diego’s newest and most novel high school is set to open inside the downtown library, educators and construction crews are scrambling to recruit the final students, hammer the last nails and negotiate operating costs.

The independently run public charter school e3 Civic High is set to open Sept. 3 on the sixth and seventh floors of the multimillion-dollar Central Library.

A series of building setbacks has forced the school administration to operate out of temporary offices while it seeks more students and readies instructors for the academic year.

Executive Director Helen Griffith hired her 12th and final teacher on Friday, and will launch a 10-day professional development program this week. The sessions will cover project-based teaching techniques, self-paced course work and the incorporation of college classes into the school day. Teachers will also embark on walking tours of the campus’ downtown neighborhood, which is meant to serve as an extension of the classrooms.

The civic-minded school has been marketed heavily to students living in and around the city’s urban core. It promises a personalized education that draws on the resources of downtown — from Petco Park to City Hall — for internships, field trips and guest lecturers.

Although the freshman class roster is full, with 130 students having been offered admission, the school is building a ninth-grade waiting list in case any spots open up.

Enrolling sophomores has proved to be more difficult, in part because existing high schools would not let recruiters from their competition on the campuses. At least 85 10th-graders have been offered a spot at the school, leaving room for 50 more students and a potential wait list, Griffith said.

“It’s harder to convince students to leave their friends and their high schools after they already started high school somewhere else,” she said. “But we are getting calls every day from people who like what we are doing. We are looking for urban students to be involved in their community ... who want to be engaged and relevant.”

The city’s construction delays, which pushed the library’s grand opening from late July to Sept. 28, have encroached on the school’s schedule. But because the school needs only half of its facility in the first year (it will add new freshman classes each year until it has a senior class), the construction delays are not expected to affect students and teachers.

Right away, the school will have use of the library’s auditorium, homework center and teen center. A sculpture garden, computer labs and other features of the library will be accessible and incorporated into the curriculum.

The San Diego Unified School District has crews working after hours and on weekends to get the project completed, said construction and planning chief Lee Dulgeroff.

“We are going to make it just in time. We’d like to have a little more of a cushion, but it didn’t work out that way,” Dulgeroff said. “But we are within budget — not a penny over.”

The city of San Diego approved a 40-year, $20 million lease for e3 Civic High in 2011, with payment coming from proceeds of the $2.1 billion Proposition S bond measure approved by voters. The investment revived the proposal for a new Central Library, which was languishing due to a lack of private funding.